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POLITICO 44

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that Gen. James Amos will be the next commandant of the Marine Corps, POLITICO has learned. Lt. Gen. Joseph Dunford has been recommended to be assistant commandant.

President Obama has not yet nominated either individual, according to defense sources, but the recommendations were recently sent to the White House.

Amos, already the Corps’ No. 2 officer, would be the first aviator to lead the service. The selection of Amos is a huge upset since the choice was thought to be between two known infantry officers: Dunford, and Gen. James Mattis. Both men had long been considered frontrunners and brought to the job different reputations and backgrounds at a time when the Corps endeavors to re-establish its sea-service identity after more than eight years of fighting wars in largely landlocked regions.

Gates was expected to want a leader who would help focus that effort. But the deliberations over who would lead the Corps also included discussions on whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly as well as well as the future of the Corps’ favorite ground combat vehicle, the General Dynamics-made Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, say officials in and outside of the Pentagon.

Also under consideration for the Corps’ top job was Lt. Gen. John Allen, now the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command. Defense News reported that Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski was under consideration but a source close to the process said he was not.

Amos will be seen as a strange choice for the Corps as it fights two land campaigns. One retired senior officer said Amos would probably make a good leader of the service even as he expressed reservations about his background as an aviator.

“He’ll do fine, he’ll have a good team surrounding him and he won’t go off the edge any which way or the other,” the retired officer told POLITICO.

But during a period of intense ground operations for the Corps, the retired officer wondered why the Obama White House would choose a Marine officer with no ground combat experience.

“The Marine Corps as an institution doesn’t owe anyone anything,” the retired officer said. “But should there be more consideration to a ground guy when you’re in the middle of a couple of ground wars? I think you might want to do that.”

But Mattis said he “could not be more pleased” that his “shipmate and friend” would lead the Corps in an e-mail to POLITICO.

“By all means quote me: Tamer Amos and Fighting Joe Dunford will be the best possible team,” said Mattis, using nicknames for the two officers.

Typically, the Corps’ second officer, known as the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, is an aviator who never rises to the top job. But the choice of Amos, considered a reserved senior officer not known for the force of his personality, may be the result of a combination of factors. Those likely include his thinking on how and if gays and lesbians should serve openly in the Marine Corps, as well as potentially being open to cancelling the EFV, a multibillion-dollar program that is behind schedule and over budget. Gates appears to have the vehicle in his budgetary cross-hairs.

Other members of the Pentagon leadership have questioned the Corps’ wisdom in pursuing the program when the writing appears to be on the wall that Gates wants to start in a new direction even as many Corps leaders cling to the platform. Likewise, the Corps’ stable of senior officers may believe that repealing 'don’t ask, don’t tell' is not a wise thing to do at this time, taking a cue from the current commandant, Gen. James Conway, who has been an outspoken opponent of repeal.

Seems like this choice is being made to get support for politicla issues more than leadership for the Corp. Hopefully, the choice works for the men. Reading this article, seems that Allen makes the smarter choice,

"The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"But the deliberations over who would lead the Corps also included discussions on whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly..."

That shouldn't even be in the equation. This administration is clueless and disgusting. All of the current military senior leaders are against revoking DADT. So let's just appoint someone who does. Disgusting.

"But during a period of intense ground operations for the Corps, the retired officer wondered why the Obama White House would choose a Marine officer with no ground combat experience..."

This makes me think back to Adm. Mullen and the Air Force General who was Ch. of the Joint Chiefs.......no ground experience.....no experience leading ground troops......I wonder if this 'retired' Marine officer was upset with those two appointments? It is no longer his Corps, but with Obama, I'm surprised he didn't demand a black female of the gay persuasion to be the next Commandant of the Marine Corps!

The arguments made for repealing DADT by homosexuals/bisexuals are nowhere related to gender, skin color or miscagenation. This is strictly about homosexual/bisexual members of the ABA and the APA(s) attempting to normalize neurotic behavior and its associated paraphilias to the uneducated masses because the majority ignored the intent of these professional bodies since the revision of the ALIMPC in 1955. If they are successful in temporarily repealing DADT, it will be repealed under a Republican Congress. What is of major import is the packing of the U S Supreme Court by the Obama administration, Kagan being the fifth female liberal (what is the current euphemism today?)nominee. We all know it is to potentially coincide with the Davis/Bois challenge to Proposition 8 in California. The reality is there has been no definitive science since the revision of the ALIMPC in 1955 based on the fraudulent and fallacious works of Alfred Kinsey to support the normalization of neurotic behavior and its associated paraphilias to children and the uneducated masses via "Good As You" marriages, "Good As You" civil unions or "Good As You" adoptions. All of these environments would characteristically be known as borderline caretaker environments regardless of the gender or socioeconomic status of the caretaker environment. Any current Republican within the House and the Senate knows their seat is in jeopardy were they not to directly confront the social activism of the liberal bodies of the ABA and the APA(s).

I wonder if this has less to do with gays and more to do with Gates' number one acquisition priority, the F-35? An aviator in charge will be much more likely to buck the Navy Department on canceling their versions, which is a persistent rumor in Washington.